EXTRACT  FROM  THE  ADDRESS 

0  » 

KT.  REV.  THOMAS  ATKINSON, 

BX8HOP    OF    N0BTH  CABOLIHA, 

Be/are  the  Council  of  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church,  held  at 
Bakighy  September  ISth,  1885.. 

"  There  is  a  question  of  the  greatest  interest  and  impor- 
tance, which  this  Diocese,  in  common  with  its  associates  in 
the  late  Confederate  States,  is  compelled  by  recent  political 
events  to  consider.  The  authority  of  the  civil  government 
of  the  United  States  having  been  re-established,  what  is  to 
be  our  relation  to  the  Church  of  the  United  States  ?  Ought 
we  to  maintain  an  organization  distinct  and  independent  of 
it,  or  to  seek  re-union  with  it?  This  is  a  question  which  it 
is  certain,  requires  of  us,  all  of  calm  and  dispassionate  wis- 
dom that  we  can  command,  and  what  is  even  more  imnor- 
tant,  a  supreme  reference  to  the  honor  of  our  Lord  and  the 
welfare  of  His  Church,  making  us  willing  to  sacrifice  to 
these  objects,  whatever  tends  merely  to  gratify  our  own  feel- 
ings, or  to  gain  the  favor  of  our  fellow  men.  To  me  it  is 
plain  that  this  is  a  critical  moment  in  the  history  of  the 
Church,  both  at  the  North  and  the  South — that  on  the  de- 
cision it  shall  now  reach,  and  the  action  it  shall  now  pursue, 
it  will  depend  very  much,  whether  in  the  future  if  shall  sink 
to  the  level  of  a  mere  sect,  or  rather  a  bundle  of  hostile  sects^ 
or  shall  maintain  its  claim  to  be  a  pure  and  vigorous  branch 
of  the  Church,  Catholic,  rising  continually  into  wider  use 


W  <^£\ 

I,  alfd ^^fe#i#l!jftfl^fl^^t,lei]yth  it  shall  become 
the  Church,  not  merely  in  the  United  States,  but  of  the 
American  people. 

The  organization  of  a  Church  in  the  Confederate  States, 
distinct  from  that  in  the  United  States,  was  I  conceive,  jus- 
tifiable, and,  indeed,  would  have  been,  if  events  had  occur- 
red according  to  our  expectation,  indispensable  to  enable  us 
to  do  our  full  duty  to  the  people  entrusted  to  our  care. 
Otherwise  we  could  make  no  provision  for  the  election,  con- 
secration, and  trial  of  Bishops,  for  sustaining  and  regulating 
our  missionary  efforts,  and  for  the  mutual  counsel  and  co- 
operation which  we  needed.  Maimed  and  impotent  as  the 
Church  at  the  South  had  been  rendered  by  our  political  sep- 
aration from  the  North,  had  she  shown  that  she  had  no  {£  ins 
medicatrix  "  in  herself,  men  would  have  been  ready  to  for- 
sake her,  as  a  dead  body,  and  join  some  religious  society, 
that,  whatever  might  be  its  defects,  at  least  had  life  in  it. 

The  Confederate  States  would  either  maintain  their  inde- 
pendence, or  they  would  not.  If  they  maintained  it,  as  we 
believed  they  would,  then  the  preface  to  the  American  Prayer 
Book,  itself  taught  us  that  "  Eclesiastical  Independence 
was  necessarily  included  in  Civil,  "  a  proposition  which 
goes  far  beyond  what  we  need  to  maintain  for  our  justifica- 
tion. If,  on  the  contrary,  the  Confederate  Government 
should  fail,  the  union  of  the  Southern  Dioceses  under  it, 
would  be  at  least  an  aid  and  benefit  to4  them,  while  it 
lasted.  I  think  no  man  can  study  Church  History  intelli- 
gently and  candidly,  and  then  deny  that  our  action  was  sub- 
stantially the  same  which  the  primitive  Bishops  and  Coun- 
cils would  have  adopted.  To  condemn  it  serves  to  show 
either  the  violence  of  political  feeling,  or  a  narrow  adher- 
ence to  forms,  rather  than  a  right  perception  of  the  spirit  of 
the  institutions  of  the  Church. 

Having  then  as  we  trust,  not  seriously  erred  in  the  past, 
how  shall  we  avoidr  mistake  and  wrong  in  the  future  ?  Shall 
we  continue  a  separate  church  organization  at  the  South,  or 


p~0 


shall  we  seek  our  former  place  in  fche  -church  of  the  United 
;  States  ?   To  decide  this  it  is  well  to  inquire  what  were  our 
reasons  for  forming  that  organization.    They  grew  out  of 
the  political  separation  of  the  Southern  States  from  the 
Northern.    There  was  no  controversy  or  cause  of  alienation 
in  the  Church  whatsoever.    As  the  Bishops  of  the  Southern 
Dioceses,  at  the  meeting  of  the  only  G-eneral  Council  which 
has  been  held,  said  in  their  Pastoral  Letter,  "  Forced  by  the 
Providence  of  God  to  separate  ourselves  from  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States — a  church  with  whose 
doctrine,  discipline  and  worship  we  are  in  entire  harmony, 
and  with  whose  action  up  to  the  time  of  that  separation,  we 
were  abundantly  satisfied,"   the  feeling  of  the  Southern 
Dioceses,  towards  the  body  of  which  they  had  formed  a  part 
was  entirely  cordial  and  kindly.    During  the  war,  lan- 
guage was  undoubtedly  used  by  ministers  and  members  of 
the  Church  at  the  North,  which  appeared  to  us,  justly  liable 
to  exception,  but  no  act  has  been  done  by  the  Church  as  a> 
body  of  which  we  can  complain.    There  being  many  reasons 
for  union,  and  the  cause  which  produced  our  separation 
having  ceased,  it  would  appear  now  that  re-union  is  the  wise 
and  proper  course.    But  it  appears  to  me  to  be  even  more, 
to  be  the  course  required  of  us  by  our  principles  as  Church- 
men.   Unity  of  government  is.  one  of  the  most  essential 
parts  of  that  unity  of  His  Church,  which  our  Saviour  stamp- 
ed on  it,  as  one  of  its  marks  and  characters,  but  which  men 
have  so  signally  defaced.    This  unity  the  Primitive  Church 
enjoyed  by  means  of  its  General  Councils.    It  is  now  lost 
and  with  it  much  of  the  inward  life  and  progressive  power 
of  the  Church  are  lost. 

The  unity  of  the  Church  in  each  Nation,  in  government 
as  in  faith,  has  been  retained  as  a  principle,  and  with  some 
slight  and  easily  explained  exceptions,  as  a  fact,  wherever 
the  Church  derived  from  the  Apostles  has  been  planted, — - 
The  Church  of  England  for  example,  is  one,  the  Gallican 
Church  is  one,  the  Church  of  Eussia  is  one.    The  non  ju- 


rorSy  of  England,  with  so  much  that  was  admirable  m  their 
leaders  and  in  their  cause,  failed  very  much  on  this  account, 
ihat  if  successful,  if  they  had  maintained  their  organization, 
they  would  have  accomplished  a  schism  in  the  National 
Church.  This  principle  of  the  unity  of  the  church  in  each 
country  was  carefully  kept  in  view  by  the  fathers  of  the 
American  Church.  They  called  that  branckof  the  Church 
<l  The  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States.  " 
"They  provided  for  Dioceses  to  be  formed  in  each  one  of  the 
United  States,  and  in  any  Territory  thereof.  On  the  same 
principle  the  Church  in  the  Confederate  States  acted,  and  a 
corresponding  provision  did  it  introduce  into  its  constitution. 
Now,  shall  we  of  our  own  accord,  renounce  this  approved 
and  time  honored  principle  ?  I  speak  not  of  what  we  may 
"be  compelled  to  do  in  these  sad  times.  It  may  become  neces- 
sary to  throw  overboard  precious  treasures,  in  order  to  save 
lliose  which  are  still  more  precions.  But  shall  we  choose  to 
abandon  this  ancient  and  salutary  principle,  and  do  what  we 
can  to  put  ourselves  on  the  footing  of  a  new  sect?  It  is 
easy  to  see  what  the  practical  cos  sequences  of- such  a  course 
would  be.  If  the  Southern  Dioceses  shall  not  be  in  commun- 
ion with  the  Church  in  the  United  States,  congregations 
will  be  fenced  in  those  Dioceses,  preferring,  sometimes  from 
their  view  of  church  principles,  sometimes  on  political 
grounds,  sometimes  from  early  association,  to  retain  and 
hold  fast  by  that  cornea  union. 

Rival  congregations  will  be  established  in  the  same  town, 
altar  will  be  set  up  against  altar,  and  preacher  inveigh 
against  preacher,  until  instead  of  the  Church  being  as  here- 
tofore the  refuge  of  those  who  love  peace  and  prefer  religi- 
ous instruction  and  exhortation  to  political  harangues,  it 
will  itself  become  a  den  of  controversy,  and  a.  fomenter  of 
political  passion.   "Similar  results  maybe  expected  in  some 
^degree  at  the  North,  especially  in  the  border  States  and  the 
great  cities',  for  in  these  congregations  with  Southern  sym- 
pathies might  well  be  organized.    Let  us  then  endeavor  to 


forecast  the  future  as  well  as  we  can,  for  we  are  not  deciding;^ 
any  ephemeral  question.    The  conclusion  to  which  we  shall 
now  come  is  one  in  which  our  children  .and  our  children's 
children  nave  a  deep  interest  as  well  as  ourselves.  The 
authority  of  the  government  of  the  United  States  is  re-es- 
tablished]* over  the  South,  and  there  is  an  universal  disclaim- 
er of  any  intention  or  desire  to  attempt  to  unsettle  it.  Bat- 
it  is  very  far  from  being  certain  what  the  nature  of  the  Union 
is  to  he  which  has  heen  cemented  again  with  so  muchbloodL- 
Is  it  to  be  one  of  constraint,  or  one  of  affection  ?    Is  the 
South  to  be  added  to  the  melancholy  list  of  oppressed  nation- 
alities— to  become  an  American  Poland  or  Hungary,  to  live 
by  the  side  of  the  North  in  a  state  of  chronic  turbulence,,, 
uspicious  and  suspected,  hating  and  hated?    A  doom  so 
mournful  and  <»o  humiliating  is  certainly  not  to  be  desired— 
Can.it  be  averted  t    i'o  me  it  seems  very  much  to  depend  on 
the  Ministers  of  Beligion.    They  have  a  .great  deal  to  do  in. 
moulding  the  sentiments  of  a  people.    They  sit  by  their 
firesides — they  are  admitted  into  their  most  confidential- 
communications.    A  feeling  which  they  sanction  is,  on  that 
account,  much  more  strongly  believed  to  be  right  and  pro- 
per to  be  cherished,  while  one  which  they  reprobate  is,  even 
if  still  indulged  in,  thought  to  be  of  a  questionable  nature. 
The  effect  of  this  has  been  very  plainly  exhibited  in  the  re- 
cent history  of  our  country. 

No  one,  I  suppose,  doubts  that  the  disruption  of  the  bonds 
which  held  together  some  of  our  largest  religious  bodies, 
and  the  erection  at  the  North  and  South  of  rival  and  hostile 
communions,  perpetually  inveighing  against  each  other, 
bandying  to  and  fro  the  most  offensive  charges,  and  stimula- 
ting the  passions  of  the  people  of  both  sections,  that  all  this 
led,  by  necessary  consequence,  immediately  and  powerfully 
to  the  political  severance,  which  culminated  in  the  recent 
terrible  war.  If  we  suppose  then  that  there  is  to  be  hence- 
forth no  religious  unison  between  the  North  and  the  South, 
.except  eo  far  as  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  furnishes  it, 


6 


what  will  be  the  result  ?  One  obvious  and  certain  conse- 
quence will  be  the  immense  increase  of  tbe  Eoman  Catholic 
Church.  But  as  that  is  not  likely  to  absorb  very  soon,  the 
whole,  or  the  greater  part  of  the  people,  there  will  be  this 
further  consequence,  a  mutual  and  constantly  increasing  es- 
trangement between  the  people  themselves.  The  soreness 
and  irritation  which  necessarily  exist,  will  be  perpetuated 
and  rendered  more  intense,  and  wounds  instead  of  healing 
ander  the  soothing  effects  of  time,  will  be  kept  open  and  be- 
come ulcers,  only  to  be  extirpated  by  fire  and  sword.  It  is 
then  of  cardinal  importance  to  the  peace  and  welfare  of  the 
country,  that  there  should  be  a  re-union  of  the  different  re- 
ligious denominations  which  now  have  distinct  organizations 
at  the  North  and  the  South.  But  I  believe  it  to  be  perfectly 
evident,  that  if  this  is  to  take  place,  it  must  begin  with 
fhe  Episcopal  Church.  If  that  cannot,  or  will  not  re-unite 
none  can  or  will.  We  separated  from  the  force  of  outward 
circumstances,  without  discord,  without  crimination  or  re- 
crimination, on  the  contrary,  with  the  language  of  love  on 
our  lips,  and  I  trust  and  believe,  with  the  feeling  of  love  in 
our  hearts. 

And  again,  we  feel  strongly  the  force  of  certain  cohesive 
principles  in  the  Church,  which  other  Protestant  bodies, 
cither  altogether  disregard  or  attach  very  little  value  to. — 
We  believe  that  schism  is  a  sin,  as  well  as  a  sourceof  innum- 
erable and  incalculable  evils.  And  surely  wilful  separation 
from  a  church  with  which  we  hate  hitherto  been  in  union, 
is  schism,  or  schism  is  a  very  mysterious  and  impalpable 
thing,  a  sentimental  grief,  not  a  plain  matter  of  fact,  taking 
place  before  the  eyes  of  men.  An  enforced  separation  is  not 
schism.  The  Church  of  Scotland  is  not  schisnlatical  as  to 
the  Church  of  England,  because  the  State  keeps  them  apart. 
The  Church  in  the  Confederate  States  was  not  schismatical 
as  to  the  Church  in  the  United  States,  because  war  and  di- 
versities of  political  government  kept  them  apart. 

But  when  there  is  no  war  and  no  diversity  of  political 
government,  then  io  remain  apart  because  we  cannot  bear 


each  other's  presence,  that  is  schism  and  great  uncharitable-- 
ness,  and  so  the  common  sense  of  all  men  who  believe  that 
there  is  such  a  sin,  will  ultimately  decide.    But;  it  has  been 
maintained  that  a  common  government  is  not  essential  to 
unity  in  the  church,  this  consisting  in  unity  of  order,  ritual, 
faith  and  spirit.    Certainly  a  common  government  is  not  in- 
dispensable where  it  cannot  be  had,  for  no  man  is  required  to 
do  that  which  is  impossible.    And  it  is  certain  also  that 
Church  unity  consists  of  many  particulars,  but  surely  unity 
of  government  is  one  of  these,  for  two  '  ecclesiastical  bodies 
with  two  distinct  and  independent  governments  can,  only  by 
great  riolence  done  to  language,  be  called  one  body,  and. 
this  also  ought  to  be  carefully  considered,  that  a  common 
government  is  the  necessary  condition  of  unity  in  any  other 
relation  of  the  Church.    For  if  one  ecclesiastical  body 
separate  into  two,  what  shall  prevent  the  one  part  or  the 
other  from  making  innovations  in  what  had  been  their  com- 
mon ritual.    No  ritual  is  absolutely  perfect,  and  consequent- 
ly there  is  always  a  desire  to  amend  in  some  way  or  other  ; 
and  it  is  certainly  very  improbable  that  the  same  amend  - 
ments  shall  recommend  themselves  to  both  parties.  And 
even  unity  of  faith  can  hardly  be  preserved  where  there  is 
diversity  of  government.    For  in  some  form  or  other  it  will 
be  apt  to  appear  that  there  may  be  an  improvement  either 
in  the  faith  itself  or  in  the  expression  of  it,  and  especially 
will  changes  of  this  sort  be  likely  to  be  accomplished,  where 
one  of  these  bodies  is  small  and  but  few  persons  have  to  be 
consulted.    It  is  certain  that  the  magnitude  of  an  ecclesias- 
tical body  tends  to  the  stability  of  its  faith.    All  this  seems 
to  me  to  be  illustrated  and  enforced  by  what  occured  at  the 
organization  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States.    We  all 
know  with  what  wisdom,  patience  and  prudence  this  was 
effected,  and  how  sincerely  the  Fathers  of  the  American 
Church  desired  and  even  promised,  not  to  depart  in  their 
new  organization  from  the  faith  of  the  Church  of  England. 
Yet  the  Athanaisan  creed  has  been  expunged,  and  the  ar- 


8 


tide  of  -the  descent  into  hell  in  the  Apostle? '  creed,  is  allow- 
ed either  to  be  omitted  or  to  have  as  its  equivalent  the 
phrase,  "  He  went  into  the  place  of  departed  spirits,  " 
which  is  not  considered  by  many  distinguished  Divines  as 
being  by  any  means  its  equivalent.  In  our  case  changes' 
might  be  made  with  much  less  difficulty,  for  we  have  made 
no  promises,  and  are  likely  to  be  a  smaller  body.  There 
are  persons  of  influence  at  the  Korth,  and  I  believe  also  at 
the  South,  who  have  desired  the  exclusion  of  the  "Filioque" 
from  the  Kicene  Creed.  Suppose  this  were  adopted  by  the 
one  party?  it  would  be  more  likely  on  that  very  account  to 
be  rejected  by  the  other.  We  shall  then  have  the  same  wall 
of  separation  between  us,  which  chiefly  divides  the  Roman 
Catholic  Church  from  the  Greek.  And  the  party  which 
adopted  the  Greek  type  of  the  creed  would  be  quite  apt  to 
exhibit  the  feeling  of  the  Greeks,,  who  consider  all  heterodox 
who  diifer  from  them  on  this  point.  In  short,  it  seems  to 
me  that  two  ecclesiastical  bodies  who  have  distinct  and  in- 
dependent governments,  "will  be  very  sure  to  vary  in  many 
important  particulars,  furnishing  a  battle  ground  for  the 
bitterest-controversv. 

I  am  aware  that  it  may  be  replied  that  this  line  of  argu- 
ment would  tend  to  prove  that  there  is  schism  in  our  separa- 
tion from  the  Eoman  Catholic  Church,  and  I  admit  it  to  be 
fair  consequence,  but  we  maintain  that  the  schism  is  on 
their  side.  If  they  admitted  of  our  communion  with  them, 
professing  only  the  ancient  creeds  and  submitting  to  the 
authority  of  general  councils  lawfully  constituted  and 
founding  all  their  decisions  on  the  Scriptures,  he  who  would 
refuse  to  unite  with  them,  would  show  much  more  regard 
for  his  own  tastes  and  feelings  than  to  the  precepts  ol  Christ. 
But  when  thev  demand  of  us  as  the  terms  of  communion — 
the  acknowledgement  of  the  divine  authority  of  the  modern 
and  unscriptural  creed  of  Pope  Pius  IYth,  and  the  grievous 
addition  made  to  it  by  the  present  reigning  Pope,  we  main- 
tain that  we  cannot  accede  to  this  condition  without  violating 


9 


;our  duty  to  God,  and  that  the  sin  of  the  schism  therefore 
lies  at  their  door.  And  so  as  to  our  present  duty,  if  the 
Church  in  the  United  States  demanded  of  us  unscripturai  or 
otherwise  inadmissible  terms  of  communion,  and  we  sepa- 
rate thereupon,  ^becomes  schismatical.  If  it  demand  none 
such,  and  we  wilfully  refuse  union,  we  are  the  schismatics. 

Now  these  are  principles  which  the  Episcopal  Church  has 
not  only  always  held  explicitly  or  implicitly,  hut  held  aloft. 
She  has  inculcated  them  upon  her  children,  and  thundered 
them  in  the  ears  of  her  adversaries.  If  then  the  Church 
which  only  separated  because  of  outward  circumstances 
which  have  passed  away,  if  that  church,  holding  principles 
which  are  so  strongly  adverse  to  separation,  if  she  cannot 
re-unite,  how  can  other  bodies  which  parted  in  mutual  dis- 
gust and  indignation,  and  which  regard  diversity  of  organi- 
zation as  a  merit  and  a  blessing  rather  than  an  evil,  how 
can  they  be  expected  to  come  together  again?  And  yet  if 
the  Episcopal  Church  should,  they  must,  or  they  will  lose 
their  bold  on  the  best  part  of  their  people,  and  probably  at 
length  become  extinct.  For  religious  minded  and  thought- 
ful men,  who  fear  God  and  love  their  country,  and  seek  af- 
ter that  charity  and  peace  which  are  the  especial  fruitJ  of 
the  Spirit,  will  certainly  seek  a  shelter  and  a  home  in  that 
communion  in  which  these  graces  are  cultivated,  rathen  than 
in  those  bodies,  which  rent  asunder  by  political  strife,  ex- 
haust their  energies  in  mutual  warfare.  I  conceive  there 
fore  that  the  best  hopes  of  the  country,  and  especially  of  the 
South,  are  bound  up  in  the  question,  what  will  the  Episcopal 
Church  now  do  ?  My  earnest  desire  then,  and  constant 
prayer  is,  that  the  Church  may  be  restored  again  in  the  unity 
of  its  government,  and  the  unfeigned  love  of  its  members. 
And  yet  I  can  not  conceal  from  myself,  that  even  this  bless- 
ing, much  as  it  is  to  be  desired,  earnestly  as  it  is  to  be  sought 
after  may  be  bought  at  too  great  a  price.  The  price  would 
be  too  great,  if  to  obtain  it,  we  were  required  to  violate  con- 
science, to  deny  what  we  believe  to  be  true,  or  to  express  re- 


10 


pentance  for  what  we  do  not  see  to  be  evil.  The  assurances, 
however,  which  I  have  received  from  a  number  of  friends  at 
the  North,  lead  me  to  believe  that  the  great  body  of  the 
Church  there  desire  nothing  of  the  sort.  And  if  there  be,  as 
perhaps  there  may  be,  some  persons  in  that  communion,  who 
are  contentious,  and  desire  to  perpetuate  discord  and 
degrade  their  former  brethren,  let  us  hope  that  their  num- 
ber will  prove  to  be  small  as  their  principles  are  evil  and 
pernicious.  And  let  me  add  that  what  is  right  to  be  done  on 
this  weighty  subject,  it  is  right  should  be  done  quickly. 
The  interests  are  too  momentous  to  be  left  to  the  hazards  and 
uncertainties  of  time.  May  God  give  us  wisdom  and  under- 
tanding  and  faithful  hearts  to  see  our  duty  and  to  follow  it. 
And  at  the  same  time  it  ie  our  duty,  as  it  is,  I  am  sure,  ©ur 
wish,  in  all  we  do  on  this  subject  to  consult,  and  as  far  as 
possible,  co-operate  with  the  other  Dioceses  of  the  Church  in 
the  Confederate  States. 

I  think  it  right  to  add  a  few  words  on  another  topic  con- 
nected with  ©ur  political  condition.  It  is,  on  our  duty  to  the 
colored  population,  lately  liberated  by  the  action  of  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States.  Some  of  us  have  ever  feared 
while  the  colored  people  were  in  the  condition  of  slavery, 
that  the  power  and  control  which  the  white  race  possessed 
over  them,  was  not  exercised  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  us 
acceptable  to  God,  and  laithful  stewards  in  His  sight. — 
There  was  much  kind  feeling  towards  our  servants,  which 
was  fully  reciprocated  by  them ;  there  was  a  good  deal  of 
care  shown  in  providing  for  their  bodily  wants,  but  very  in- 
sufficient attention  was  paid  to  their  moral  and  religious  im- 
provement. At  the  same  time,  I  take  pleasure  in  bearing 
this  testimony,  which  is,  I  think,  very  honorable  to  the 
masters  and  mistresses  under  the  old  system,  that  they  lis- 
tened to  sharp  and  pointed  rebukes  and  remonstrances  on 
this  subject,  not  only  with  patience  but  with  gratitude,  that 
they  desired  to  learn  their  duty,  that  they  were  year  by  year 
improving  in  the  discharge  of  it,  that  the  chief  care  and  la- 


11 

Ibor  of  many  men,  and  a  still  larger  number  of  the  women  of 
the  South  were  occupied  in  promoting  the  welfare  of  their  ser- 
vants, and,  that  under  our  system  of  slavery,  the  Afri- 
can race  made  a  progress  during  the  last  hundred  years,  not 
only  in  numbers  and  physical  comfort,  but  a  progress  from 
barbarism  to  civilization,  from  Heathenism  to  Christianity, 
to  which  the  history  of  the  world  offers  no  parallel-  But 
the  system  was  no  doubt  defective,  better  adapted  to  the  early 
stage  of  a  people's  progress  from  the  savage  state,  than  to 
that  which  they  have  now  reached  ;  and  at  any  rate,  God  in 
lis  Providence  has  definitively  set  it  aside.  The  future  of 
that  people  is  very  obscure,  and  there  is,  in  the  judgment  of 
many,  great  danger  even  of  their  extinction  as  a  race. 

What  then  must  we  do  as  Christian  men  and  women  ? 
We  must  continue  our  care  for  them ;  we  ought  even  to  in- 
crease it.  We  have  sorely  been  in  some  degree  delinquent 
in  the  past,  let  us  resolve  in  God's  strength,  not  to  be  so  for 
the  future.  We  shall  have  less  of  natural  affection  to  ani- 
mate us  ;  let  us  try  to  have  more  of  christian  principle.— 
Slavery,  strangely  as  such  a  sentiment  may  sound  at  the 
Tabernacle,  or  in  Exeter  Hall,  has  much  in  it  to  attach  men 
to  each  other.  There  is  protection  on  the  one  side  and  de- 
pendence on  the  other,  and  as  the  wisdom  of  Lord  Bacon 
long  ago  taught  us,-  1  i  There  is  little  friendship  in  the  world, 
and  least  of  all  between  equals.  That  that  is,  is  between 
superior  and  inferior,  whose  fortunes  may  comprehend  the 
one,  the  other."  This  relation,  however,  with  whatever  it 
had  of  good,  and  whatever  of  evil,  being  now  at  an  end, 
but  the  subjects  of  it  being  still  in  the  midst  oi  us,  necessa- 
rily poor,  generally  ignorant,  and  generally  improvident, 
their  wants  and  their  dangers  must  be  very  great.  That 
then  which  becomes  us  towards  all  men,  especially  becomes 
us  towards  them.  First  to  be  just,  next  to  be  kind.  Let  us 
remember  then  that  by  our  existing  political  system,  in 
which  we  have  acquiesced,  they  have  a  right  to  wages  for 
their  labor.  Let  us  pay  them  then,  not  grudgingly  or  of 
necessity,  but  as  an  honest  debt.  The  amount  must  of  course, 
depend  on  the  value  of  their  labor,  the  number  of  their  fam- 
ilies, whom  we  have  to  support,  and  partly  too,  on  the  re- 
sources of  a  much  impoverished  people  ;  but  as  Christians 
we  must  see  to  it,  that  we  give  them  "  that  which  is  just 
and  equal,  knowing  that  we  also  have  a  Master  in  Heaven.  " 


12 

But  we  ought  to  be  more  than  just.  That  is  bat  the 
heathen  standard  of  right.  As  Christians,  we  must  aim  at 
something  higher.  We  must  remember  the  ignorance  and 
inexperience  of  these,  who  are  to  so  great  an  extent,  grown 
children.  We  must  allow  for  the  immediate,  intoxicating" 
effect  of  so  great  and  sudden  a  change  in  their  condition. — 
We  must  keep  in  mind  their  general  faithfulness  in  the  hour 
of  trial.  We  must  allow  for  occasional  i  stances  of  what 
seems  to  us  folly,  or  perversity,  or  ingratitude.  We  must 
practice  towards  them  the,  Apostical  injunctions  which  are  so~ 
strikingly  united.  a  Be  pitiful,  be  courteous.**  Their  dis- 
tresses in  their  new  condition  are  likely  to  ne  many  and 
greaft  Let  us  be  ready  to  relieve  them  accordingly  as  God 
gives  us  the  means.  They  are  as  a  race,  peculiarly  sensible 
of  courtesy,  or  the  absence  of  it.  They  show  it  abundantly 
themselves,  and  they  are  very  much  wounded  when  it  is  de- 
nied to  them.  They  ieel  contempt  or  rudeness,  more  than  a 
serious  injury.  Let  us  inuict  none  of  these  on  them.  Let 
us  make  them  feel,  what  is,  I  believe,  most  true,  that  their 
best  friends  are  among  ourselves,  and  that  to  us,  they  must 
look  for  counsel,  and  aid,  and  protection.  But  above  all,  let 
us  remember  that  part  of  our  duty,  in  which,  I  fear,  we  have- 
been  most  deficient,  providing  for  them  sound,  religious  in- 
struction. They  are  in  great  danger  of  falling  into  the 
hands  of  mischievous,  and  sometimes,  no  doubt,  malevolent 
fanatics,  which  would  l)e  a  great  calamity  to  them,  and  also 
to  us.  Let  us  endeavor  to  avert  it,  by  doing  what  is  at  any 
rate  our  duty,  by  giving  them  the  true  doctrine  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  in  lieu  of  the  vain  janglings  of  false  teachers. 
Let  us  raise  up  colored  congregations  in  our  towns,  and  let 
all  our  clergy  feel  that  an  important  part  of  their  charge  is  to> 
teach  and  to  ^befriend  the  colored  people,  and  especially  to 
train,  as  far  as  they  are  permitted  to  do  so,  the  children  of 
that  race." 

The  following  resolutions  were  passed  by  the  Council : 

"  The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  that  part  of  the 
Bishop's  address  which  relates  to  the  re-union  of  the  diocese 
of  North  Carolina  with  the  Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in 
the  United  States,  having  considered  the  subject  laid  before 
them,  beg  leave  to  report  that  oeing  anxious  to  maintain  the 
unity  of  the  Church  within  the  borders  of  the  United  States, 
and  remembering  with  satisfaction  the  entire  harmony  which 
formerly  existed  among  the  dioceses,  they  have  heard,  with 
gratification,  the  sentiments  expressed  by  the  Bishop  ot  this 


13 

diocese,  in  regard  to  re-union,  and  have  received  with  equal 
pleasure  the  cordial  invitation  which  has  been  extended  by 
the  presiding  Bishop  of  the  Church  in  the  United  States,  to 
the  Bishops  and  dioceses  of  the  South,  to  return  to  their 
places  in  the  General  Convention  ;  therefore, 

HesoLvedy  That  the  diocese  of  North  Carolina  is  prepared 
to  resume  her  position  as  a  diocese  in  connection  with  the 
Protestant  Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States,  whenever, 
in  the  judgment  of  the  Bishop,  after  consultation  with  the 
Bishops  of  the  Southern  dioceses  (which  consultation  he  is 
hereby  requested  to  hold)  it  shall  be  consistent  with  the  good 
iaith  which  she  owes  to  the  Dioceses  with  which  she  has  been 
in  union  during  the  past  four  years. 

Resolved,  That  with  a  view  to  such  contingency,  there  be 
ibur  Clerical  and  four  Lay  deputies  elected  to  represent  this 
Diocese  in  the  ensuing  general  Convention  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  in  the  United  States. 

K.  S.  MASON,  Chin'n. 

The  following  delegates  were  elected  to  the  General  Con- 
vention to  be  held  at  Philadelphia  in  October,  under  the  fore- 
going resolutions : 

Clergy. — Keverends  K.  S.  Mason,  F.  M.  Hubbard,  J.  B. 
Cheshire-,  W.  Hodges. 

Lay  Delegates. — Hon.  Wm.  H.  Battle,  E.  H.  £niith,  Bobt. 
Strange,  Kemp  P.  Battle, 


PRIKTKD  AT  J.  C.  GORMAX'S  BOOK  ABD  JOB  OOTOB,  BaLBTOH,  N.  C. 


